


By Any Other Name

by GoldStarGrl



Category: Arrested Development
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Pet Names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 03:25:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2492696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldStarGrl/pseuds/GoldStarGrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gob has never really liked his name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Any Other Name

Gob had never really liked his name.

George was too grown up, too formal. It was the name for a king, a dragon slayer, a saint. And he was none of those things. He couldn’t even hear it without seeing his father, his tired eyes, a face that was never happy to seem him, never proud. Always regretting that he gave away his name to the son who least deserved it.

Gob had never really liked his nickname, either.

Or rather, his real name. That's what it had become. Nickname implies that “Gob" was only used when one was in a hurry, and no one had called him George since he was in first grade.

Maybe that meant people were always in a hurry, when they were around him. Trying to relay the message as fast as they could and get the hell away from him.

* * *

He'd looked up Job, the real Job, online once. Michael had been teasing him, saying he was just like his namesake.

Job lost everything. He had no work, no children, no money, no anything. He was the king of bad luck. He was a loser.

Gob fired off a quick "fuck you, Mikey” text, but the sting didn't go away. It was a few decades too late to ask for a name change. There were too many Georges in the family now anyway.

* * *

“Gobie? Do you want another one?”

His eyebrows crinkled as he looked up at Tony. He was sitting on the floor of his apartment, trying to stuff one of his never-ending scarfs back up his sleeves. Tony was standing on the other side of the room, a glass of wine in each hand.

Gob opened his mouth, a little confused, then closed it.

Tony raised his eyebrows. “No? OK.” He poured it all into one glass, the drops of red liquid running over and staining his fingers. When Gob still didn’t react, he set it down on his coffee table and crouched in front of his…whatever they were calling each other this week.

He wiggled his fingers in front of Gob’s blank brown eyes, checking to see if he had disappeared inside his head, as he was often wont to do.

“You okay?"

He just blinked and titled his head, looking up at Tony.

“What-“ He swallowed. “What did you call me?”

“Huh?”

"Before, you said...you called me..."

"What...oh, _Gobie_?” He smiled a little sheepishly. “Is that weird? I thought it was cute.”

“No! No, same, it is totally…cute.”

Silence fell. They stared at each other, wide eyed and awkward, both of them nodding at nothing in particular.

Then Tony started laughing, gently, half to himself. He sat down on the ground next to Gob and started rolling up what was left of the scarf. Gob unbuttoned his cuff so he could pull it back in. They were quiet again, but it was a nice, lived in quiet. A comfortable silence.

There were more of them everyday.

“I’ve never had, like, my own name before.” Gob blurted out, half snickering, half self-consciously shrugging, folding himself smaller. Tony knew that voice, knew that pose; _I'm joking_ , _haha, no I'm not._

He stopped rolling and looked at him. “Do you like it?”

"Gobie." Before he could lose his nerve, Gob leaned over quickly and pressed a kiss against the corner of Tony’s mouth. “Yeah. I love it."


End file.
